I started Gen Con 2008 with some doubts about my ability to go up to designers and say hi.
I’m an extroverted, exceedingly chatty person.. but when I’m not introduced to someone, I clamp up real good.
Except, something happened to me somewhere during the second day. Probably during the 126 players chaosfest that was the Ascension of the Drow mega game. All my inhibitions fled, I didn’t give a fuck what people thought about me anymore. I stopped being afraid of being blown off.
It really paid off!
Here’s a post about what I learned about gaming, people, and myself at Gen Con.
Day 1
- Gamers don’t care about Bloggers…yet. Most don’t know what it is.
- Industry people, on the other hand, care about bloggers very much!
- Industry professionals are turning to the Blogging community to tap in on the more constructive debate than those found in Forums.
- Always be ready to change your plans if others don’t depend on you being somewhere at a given time. That’s how I ended up playing D&D with James Wyatt.
- Making silly voices is fun!
- Sparing PC’s lives to put them in a hard position to roleplay out of is a staple of a legendary game master.
- We are bad roleplayers because we are scared to look silly in front of people, even those we’d trust with our lives.
- Alcohol lowers those barriers… but it is not necessary.. it did help me understand the last lesson.
- Drunken D&D was the best D&D game I ever played (no offense James, you had the best techniques ever!).
Day 2
- Never underestimate the power of networking. I met a God of Networking and all I could do was bask in his glow.
- D&D 3.5 is still an astoundingly fun role playing game.
- Never, ever let your 3.5 Sorcerer pick the Mount spell unless you make sure that all your scenes can handle a few large terrified animals!
- I channeled Kevin Smith for 15 minutes in a scene where a Guard blocks access to an office. The players managed to go around him to the office, insulting him a bit. They found find it locked with a ‘Back in 10’ sign, only to have the guard say “Hmm, break is over”, saunter to the office, unlock the door and put the Official’s cap on and smile at the PCs. Seeing the players face slowly absorb the trope and still get hit by the punchline was freaking gold! What’s the point of this lesson? Do this more often!
- When you GM for large events, Industry professionals will sneak up on you… Always be your best! Heck do better!
- When you talk to someone you know, introduce them rapidly to all those around you. That’s, like, basic networking man… took me 35 years to realize it.
- Facebook is where your future clients currently are, come and meet me there (Philippe-Antoine Menard), we’ll think of something to grab our future audience early.
Day 3:
- Cursing at 8 am (FUCK the Rules!) to wake up people at a seminar works.
- Getting blown off by an industry representative does not hurt after all.
- Geeks are inherently shy and hate business, they distrust it like the plague. That’s why so many are starving and/or living in the halo of other, gutsier, business savvy writers.
- Gen Con is for playing games. Don’t spend too much time networking and doing seminars/panels.
- Magic: The Gathering Drafts still rocks after 15 years!
- Dave Chalker is one mean player and a very talented Game Designer… hire him before I do or he starts his own thing! It took my 10 years of intense Magic experience (and a bit of top decking) to beat him in round 2.
- Two words: BattleCruiser Magic!
- Magic the Gathering and D&D R&D employee don’t seem to realize how similar both games are!
Day 4:
- Off the pants, crazy insane funny D&D with incompetent PCs (which is actually nearly impossible in 4e, we tried hard) is a lot of fun!
- I have to accept it, I’m an Instigator player. I’m also a Storyteller and a Psychodramatist…
- I therefore concede to Wolfgang Baur, the Crunch Overlord died forever on day 4 of Gen Con, I’m now a Fluff and Crunch yielding Rockstar! Ha!
- Industry people are so nice, a lot nicer than the clients they serve.
- People, don’t talk about your Characters unless asked to, ever! It’s Standard Social Imperative.
- Stop hating other games and go play yours, I need the fresh air this will save us.
- Never underestimate the Epic power of just being Nice.
I left Gen Con feeling like I could take on the whole RPG world… Maybe I should just give it a try.
See you next year… Now I’ll start looking at PAX, trying to score a media invite.
Some very cool lessons you had there Chatty! Sounds like a hell of a good time. I hope I can make it up there at some point.
Good tip about the industry people caring about bloggers. It might go a long way toward making the RPG blogging community as influential in our segment as political blogs can be in theirs. I’d love to have WotC kissing my butt 😉
Toms last blog post..Tomcat Jr.’s First Adventure
LOL knowing that WotC people do read this blog, I’m not sure you’re making the best of first impressions here Tom.
=)
Yeah, but thank God for emoticons…I figure WotC knows what each represents since so many of them are on the net 😉
[paranoia]They DO know that the winkie face means I’m kidding right?[/paranoia] 😀
Toms last blog post..Tomcat Jr.’s First Adventure
Hopefully I’ll see you there next time. Doesn’t sound like you spent any time where I was though. Gen Con rules.
Lesson Learned: Don’t play in tournaments unless:
a) you hate gaming and want to continue to do so
b) you are a masochist
c) you are so insanely competitive that you are okay with absolutely not having fun for 4 hours and paying for the privilege
d) all of the above
It damn near ruined my GenCon. Seriously, 2 of the 3 were so bad it hurt. The judge in my first tourney didn’t have the vaguest idea of how to play 4e (which would have been okay, but clearly they hadn’t heard of the rules of fun/cool) which made the 4 hours HELLISHLY long. My second tourney judge started out great, but got tired and totally lost the session. Telling players that they can’t destroy a statue because they don’t have stats for it and bogging them down in a room for 45 min because nobody could roll high enough to find the trap.
An amendment to the Day 3 LL, of dropping the F-bomb at 8am. If questioned, just tell them that it is not your native language. LOL
Actually, it was quite funny. Even I did a double take. It woke everyone up.
To add to some LL:
* Always know where the nearest Starbucks is located.
* Sleep is for after the Con.
* It never hurts to use the phrase, “I am doing that seminar with the Chatty DM”. (That is how I met Wolfgang.)
It was great to be teamed up with you this year, and since I know you have the GenCon bug now, we will have to do an event or two together next year.
DNAphils last blog post..Reentry Into Reality (or Home From GenCon)
Nice, Chatty.
I know what you mean about not being able to introduce yourself to people… always have trouble with that myself. In fact, thinking back on it, I’m not entirely sure I introduced myself to you.
So if you were wondering about that weird guy you talked to at lunch… yeah, that was me. >.>
Ninetails last blog post..Alignment Explained via Superheroes
@Ambush: Yeah 4e is this strange beast for tournaments because so few actually ‘master’ it and have the guts to break it (without being unfair) open for fun tournament play.
Which brings up another LL:
DMing for 25 years makes a big difference, mostly in shoring up self-confidence.
@DNAPhil: He he he, being French is not always just to be the butts of insults ya know!
@Ninetails : Oh man everything is such a blur now one week after the event. I’m sure you didn’t introduce yourself because I don’t recall hearing a guy
I had lunch in Steak N Shake beside a guy, I also had lunch twice with the Stupid Ranger crew. In all these events I talked to people I wasn’t formerly introduced to.
Plus I’d have remembered if a guy had told me he had a blog about butterflies! =)
Send me a pic to my email and I’ll find a way to make it up to you…
God I hope I wasn’t a jerk to you! 😉
Glad you had a good time. 🙂
This year, my biggest lesson learned was that you will never have time to do everything you want, like going to the RPG Bloggers seminar. 🙁
Next year, I’ll best you in a draft… each game was razor close! And if I had a better memory for Magic (not as good as I used to) I’d argue where you thought I made a mistake, but I think it had something to do with having two giant growths in my hand and only one forest.
Glad to hear all went well. Gotta go myself one of these days.
Donny_the_DMs last blog post..A dark covenant…founded in earnest. It’s only goal: To roll the dice!
You sold me– I must attend next year.
ScottMs last blog post..Alignment Motivational Posters
@Dave: You’re so on man! It will be a clash of titans! And we’ll play it to the end!
Dude, forgive if this comes out lame, but I really just want to thank you for being so bloody productive and positive in your posts.
I find I am actually getting depressed going back to RPG blogs and reading great writers with great minds who are probably great gamers devolve into whining about this or that aspect of a game THAT IS MEANT TO BE TWEAKED BY THE GAMERS . . . complaining about rules and exceptions that THEY HAVE FULL PERMISSION TO CHANGE.
Thank you for the Rule of Cool and the Tyranny of Satisfaction.
/lovefest
Must go kill my children now. Well, not really my children. Their characters . . .
brahnamins last blog post..Critical Hits: Your Wish is Granted
Thanks brahnamin.
No normal human being will ever find being buried in praise lame.
I credit you for quoting ‘Tyranny of Satisfaction’ to me first. I love it!
That should the title of my first Album!
(I’m kidding by the way, I don’t believe that Rockstar thing… I’m just a very enthusiastic and chatty Gamer)
@Chatty: Nothin’ to make up, it’s my own fault. ^_^
If you’re there next year, I’ll be sure to rectify that.
Ninetails last blog post..My Dwarves are Roman
Did you get your Gen Con badge back to you?
How weird to find it (someone I knew) on the sidewalk a few blocks from Gen Con.
j.
Joes last blog post..Rant: Greyhound bus
@Joe: I did! Thank you soooooooo much man! You win the Super Secret Bacon Prize!
Super Secret Bacon Prize? I want one. 🙁
Bacon is the best thing ever invented ever. For always.